Slashdot videos: Now with more Slashdot!

View

Discuss

Share

We've improved Slashdot's video section; now you can view our video interviews, product close-ups and site visits with all the usual Slashdot options to comment, share, etc. No more walled garden! It's a work in progress -- we hope you'll check it out (Learn more about the recent updates).

mutherhacker (638199) writes "I wish Slashdot readers would explain to me why creators of work of intellect should collect royalties on their work for life.

When I go see the doctor, I pay a certain amount because I used up the doctor's time. He worked 30 minutes to examine me, treat me etc. A construction worker only gets paid for the hours he worked. Most people only get paid for the hours they work so why should musicians for example collect royalties on their recordings for life? Even their children and grandchildren go on to collect royalties from sales in some cases after the creators pass away. If the artist worked 2 hours recording the track then he should only get paid for 2 hours of work. Maybe a system would be setup where the first early adopters would pay for the music and then after a number of sales the work would be in the public domain. Some people will argue that you can't put a price on "works of genius" and that it's up to the artists to name a pricetag for their work but I think there should be some alternative.

To take it even further? When I write an academic paper I cite all the works that I based my paper on. I somehow give "credit" to all the previous scientists that inspired me and who's work contributed to mine. Artists rarely do such a thing. They rarely (if ever) list their musical influences in the back of the CD or give credit to some other artist from whom they "copied" a tune or a lick. Inspired by the story of the mathematician that wouldn't accept the monetary award for his work because it's not his OWN. It's based on work by hundreds of years of research that dates back to ancient Greece, even further.

So why should musicians or other artists get paid for life? I think they should only get paid to perform live!"

Low Ranked Craig writes "Apple had an event today to show off the next major update to the iPhone OS. iPhone OS 4.0 should arrive this summer (presumably with a new iPhone) for iPhone and iPod Touch, and in the fall for the iPad. According to Apple the update has more than 1,500 new APIs and 100 new features including the sorely missed multitasking. Other highlights include unified inbox, improved security, support for multiple Exchange accounts, application folders, iBooks, and iAd, an advertising framework for developers to put ads in their applications. The official word from Steve on Flash and Java remains a simple 'No.'"Updated 20100408 22:09 GMT by timothy: Read on for more information, including some bad news if you want to program for the iPhone in C# or Flash CS5.